


Is It Too Much To Ask?

by elloteenah



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Early Days Vanity, F/F, Fluff, Hurt & Comfort, Vanity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:13:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22174603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elloteenah/pseuds/elloteenah
Summary: Set from Nov 16th, 2017 episode. What I believe happened before and between those scenes. Vanessa isn't happy with Charity from the night before.
Relationships: Charity Dingle/Vanessa Woodfield
Comments: 1
Kudos: 46





	Is It Too Much To Ask?

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on my Tumblr. We need more fic (or answers) to what went on between those little few and far in between scenes after the first kiss. Although, I do miss the scenes of guessing what'll be next, I'll take them as a couple any day.

The whistling sound of the wind on the trees and cars passing far and few between the seconds Vanessa was watching pass on the clock where all reminders her current state with Charity could change any minute now.

She had been enjoying Charity company more than she had ever imagined. Charity Dingle of all people, Vanessa Woodfield had found herself in bed with. 

The kind of pairing writers all over the world win awards for creating. 

It was still in it’s early days, admittedly. They didn’t have a name for it but what Vanessa could admit and say is she enjoyed it. Something about Charity was addictive. 

She had never felt anything like it when she and the blonde had their first encounter, and when she texted the vet out of the blue on evening, Vanessa felt like a teenager. 

Since then, the feeling had only grown. She started spending evenings in the pub just so she could look at Charity. She wasn’t usually this way. It wasn’t like she was doing the chasing but she was definitely trying to get the other blonde to notice her. 

Charity wasn’t blind to it. She started asking Vanessa to stay in the pub until it closed when she was working the late and it made her heart skip a beat—not that she would admit it—when Vanessa told her she already planned childcare, her intentions for the night clear. 

Even at Tug Ghyll, if Vanessa had the house to herself, she would text Charity. Make sure Johnny was sound asleep in his bed and Charity would be at the door before she got to the bottom of the stairs. 

Of course, it wasn’t a surprise one of them would leave in the middle of the night. It’s what you did when you were trying to keep a secret. Both women had had their fair share of it during college. One night stands the same, it happens. 

In the week they’d been seeing each other, Charity had done her run outs. As had Vanessa expect for one night, it had been a long day at work and just about had the energy for Vanessa, Charity the same and neither realised before Charity was woken by the sound of the drayman rocking up woke her and she shook Vanessa and took her out the pub via the backdoor. Vanessa accepted that.

Conversation had lasted longer than usual between them tonight. Vanessa got a belly laugh out of the Dingle and it made her smile like a Cheshire Cat while her heart leap out of her chest before they went upstairs where the laughter turned to sounds of release. 

Now the part Vanessa dreaded. 

At Woolpack, after their moment of bliss, Charity would make the comment Vanessa should be getting back home and for the first couple of nights Vanessa accepted it, tonight she couldn’t. 

While Charity’s scratches covered her back and arms right now, underneath were those inflicted by Vanessa herself. Almost like a nervous rash, Vanessa could help it out of fear what she had been thinking of asking Charity all evening. 

As as every second passed, that nervous rash felt like it was coming back. 

Charity had been mindlessly been drawing shapes along Vanessa collarbone, her head tucked nicely under the smaller woman’s head, placing the odd kiss on the skin there her hand came back her way or the urge to be close got too much. 

She noticed Vanessa swallow and it caused her to look up at the vet, her eyes following where hers were. 

“Shit! Is that the time?” Charity hissed as she leap out of Vanessa arms, bringing the duvet with her to cover her chest as she searched for her jeans. 

“Charity,” Vanessa whispered. Her weight resting on her elbow as she turned to the woman now sat on the edge of her bed trying to pull her skinny jeans up her legs, her hurried actions actually making it harder for Charity to move them over her ankles. She reached out her other hand to rest on Charity’s spine. “You don’t have to leave, you know? You can stay the night.”

Charity sucked in a breath before she looked over her shoulder at Vanessa. “I don’t think that’s wise, babe.”

“Why not?” Vanessa narrowed her eyes. 

“Well, you’ve got Johnny here tonight. You don’t need him catching me here.”

“Charity,” Vanessa said her name again, hoping it would convince her it’s okay. She removed her hand from Charity’s back—the blonde shuddered at the loss of touch but Vanessa didn’t see—to reach for her alarm clock. “I’ll set my alarm for being he wakes up. You told me you’re not working tomorrow, Charity. You don’t have to be up before me. I will have him ready and out to nursery before you even need to wake up. He knows the only time he goes upstairs in the morning is to do his teeth. My room is off bounds unless I say.”

_Trust Vanessa to have a well-oiled machine for a child_ , Charity thought. 

Charity sighed. “You have it all planned out, haven’t you?”

“Yes, and I thought you did, too,” Vanessa said without a beat. She sat up, not caring what parts of her where currently exposed because she was about to expose her feelings and that was much more exposing that her own nudity. “Charity, _you_ texted _me_ saying you want to see me. Not the other way around.”

Charity sighed again. She dropped the waist of her jeans she’d been holding onto since Vanessa had started talking, letting them pool uncomfortably at her feet. She put her head in her hands rubbed at her eyes. “It’s not that serious, Vanessa.”

“Hold on,” Charity turned to face her again, her eyes were cross. “I believed you actually wanted to see me. After everything you’ve done, it’s me who should be having the doubts.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You humiliated me in front of our neighbours and ignored me for days on end after,” Vanessa reminded her. 

The blonde should have known it was something that’s probably water under the bridge to Charity because it’s her second nature to torture others. Maybe she should have seen it coming. 

“I believed you actually wanted to see me when you texted me. I’ve seen you everyday this week and I can’t get you out my head, I couldn’t even after you embarrassed me like that. I thought maybe you felt the same. But I should have known after you told me you slept with some randomer after we spent the night together. I’m not like you, I don’t just give myself like that.” 

“You think I do?” Charity questioned, hurt that Vanessa would think of her like that. 

“Well, no, I don’t know you. But i’s how it comes across from the outside,” Vanessa swallowed. 

Charity scoffed, shaking her head. She reached down to pick up her jeans again. She wasn’t going to stay around just to be insulted. 

“Well, thanks a lot.” 

“No,” Vanessa was quick to react. She reached out and grabbed the landlady’s arm. “I didn’t mean it like that. Just… I heard you only did it to con him out of money or something and although you’ve said you’re not spending time with me to manipulate my trust and I do believe that. Can you not see how that makes me feel?”

Charity didn’t want to admit it but of course she did. She kicked her jeans off, finally turned her body to get back on the bed properly, pulling the covers over her naked skin as she did, so she could face Vanessa but she kept her hand down, even after she nodded.

“I may not be sly like you but I’m not stupid either. It’s just feels like you use me to get what you want out of this,” Vanessa gestured to their bodies, “and leave. I feel a little conned.” 

“Okay,” Charity breathed out. 

Vanessa put her hand on her knee and squeezed it gently. “It doesn’t help when you bolt for the door when I ask you to stay the night.”

“That’s not quite what happened, babe,” Charity mused. 

“Well,” Vanessa gave a little smile to her attempt of a laugh. She patted the bed. “Come on, Charity.” 

Charity didn’t know how she was going to handle herself in the future if she couldn’t resist Vanessa now. Fear loomed over her about catching feelings if she caved into someone’s words this fast now. 

Vanessa had a way with words, almost smart-arse-like, Charity realised but she kind of liked it. For the first time, she had sense talked into her. Vanessa didn’t let it turn it into a blazing row like the men before her. 

“Here,” Vanessa pulled an oversized shirt from under her pillow. “You can wear it if it makes you feel less vulnerable.” 

Charity took it from her quickly and threw it on. Her words cut a little deep but the blonde, of course, wasn’t wrong. 

She crawled across the bed and, without even a second thought, back into the arms of Vanessa. 

They lay together in silence for only a few seconds. Vanessa knew because she watched the clock again, knowing now she didn’t need to count any more tonight. 

Charity used her middle finger to trace a line from the top of Vanessa’s forehead, down over her nose that Charity had noticed twitched more than once earlier and now was just a perfect line that lead towards her lips where Vanessa caught her wrist and kissed her palm softly and stopping her own action. Vanessa tucked her hand under her chin, pulling her so the two of them were flush together, Vanessa’s back to Charity’s front.

“Thank you,” Vanessa whispered as their eyes drew heavy.

* * *

After the Christening, Vanessa popped into the pub. She was hoping to see Charity. 

Of course, she shouldn’t have too surprised to wake up to an empty bed. It had still been in the back of her mind after she convinced Charity to stay but it didn’t make it any easier. 

She thought about texting her but didn’t want to get into the childish spat that can be texting. The blunt full stops, being left on read for hours, she’d seen it all before. Besides, she wants to see Charity’s face, how her body reacts. She wants to know if maybe she did overstep the mark last night. It has been only seven days, maybe she shouldn’t be so hung up. 

So she wasn’t surprised to hear Chas say Charity had given up a little bit of her day off to help out on a busy day. Weddings, funerals, christenings are what make The Woolpacks targets, not surprised when Emmerdale has so many. 

Luckily it wasn’t the only reason she was in the pub anyway, as well as have a celebratory drink, she was there to have catch up with Rhona. Woman had relationship problems of her own that needed dealing with, much bigger than Vanessa’s. 

They talked for a while until Vanessa excused herself to go pick up Johnny from the childminders. 

And just like some Hollywood rom-com would have it, just as she’s about to walk out the door, she bumps into the boy—but in this blockbuster, it’s a girl. 

“Careful!”

“Hey!” Charity said happily. “Where you running off to?”

Vanessa didn’t miss that the blonde did a once over of her outfit. “What business is that of yours?”

Charity was happy to see the smaller blonde but Vanessa’s quick backfire had Charity put her walls up. She rocked her phone between her hands while she thought of her comeback.

“You know when you get stroppy, your nose twitches?” she said, trying to ignore the fact it brought back memories of last night but only the ones before their little fight and although her body didn’t show it, her eyes did. “It’s very cute.”

Vanessa resisted the urged to bite her tongue. The sarcasm of Charity brought back the anger she felt for being abandoned this morning. 

“I’ll get really cute if you don’t get out of my way.”

And like that, Charity let Vanessa go. Her defences telling her Vanessa was just another crazy who didn’t like her.

* * *

Vanessa ended up coming back later, of course she did. She couldn’t help it. It was her kind nature, damn it. She needed to talk things out. But when she saw Rhona and Paddy still in brewery and not talking to each other, she knew it wasn’t going to be easy to keep her own conversations under-wraps. 

“Hey,” Charity was quick to spot her. She only agreed to help Chas out so she could watch that door, see if Vanessa would come back and surprised when she did.

Well, maybe not that surprised, she knew she had a hold on the vet now and she’d be lying if she didn’t say it made her feel a bit smug about the situation. But she was going to be an adult. She didn’t want Vanessa being upset with her again. 

“Um,” she started, grabbing the nearest thing to her, a beer mat to distract herself from the words coming out of her mouth. “I’m sorry about before, you know, winding you up.”

Still, Vanessa took no prisoners. “Isn’t that what you do?” 

“I do a lot of things,” Charity’s eyes suddenly widening, surprised by her own admission but now she couldn’t stop those walls building again. Sarcasm and propositions of sex as a means of apology where the only ways of so-called affection she knew. “I’m free later if you want me to fill you in.”

Vanessa’s eyes were like clocks, a second passes and her expression can change. Charity knew she had said the wrong thing but didn’t know how to make it better. Vanessa had grown tired of the sarcasm for the day. She clearly wasn’t going to talk about issues in a public place so Vanessa was just going to have to wait until tonight. She had to walk away before she really started questioning what she was doing with Charity. 

Charity let the vet see that smug smile but she didn’t let it last long as she questioned if she well and truly just fucked up her chances, for the lack of a better phrase.

* * *

Just like that, nine o’clock at night, just as Vanessa had changed into something more comfortable and settled down with a cuppa after a nightmare evening with Johnny who she knows had sensed her own frustration of the day and used it to test the last of patience, there was a knock at the door. 

Vanessa suddenly cursed herself for throwing her hair in a messy bun, she probably looked a mess right now.

“Hey,” Charity said softly. 

“Hey,” Vanessa without a second thought let her in. 

Charity rubbed her hands together, they had been sweating on her walk to Tug Ghyll. “I just wanted to apologise— _again_ —for earlier.”

Vanessa sighed. “I’m over it.”

“Really?” Charity cocked an eyebrow. 

“I get it,” she said, walking over to sit on the couch. Charity followed. “I shouldn’t have been so forward. I get it’s only _that_ between us and I’m fine, honestly. I just thought with it being so late and you had nowhere to be and maybe I was just jumping the gun and—“

“Now who’s making excuses?” Charity smirked. 

She shifted closer to Vanessa, their knees touching. “I know I’m irresistible but I see there was no harm in what you said. Be honest, it was what I needed to hear. Maybe it’s where I’ve gone wrong all these years.”

Vanessa smiled. “All I’m saying is I told you it’s okay to stay, I didn’t asked for your hand in marriage. and I was upset you weren’t there in the morning.”

“I know,” Charity picked at a loose thread on the blanket Vanessa kept over her couch, laughing nervously. “I shouldn’t have. I got scared and didn’t want to face it.”

“Well, you’re here now,” Vanessa closed her hand over Charity’s. “You have tonight to make it up to me.”

“Oh, yeah?” Charity suddenly perked up. She leaned in closer to Vanessa, she could feel her breath on her face. “If that’s what you wanted, babe, you should have just said so. I’m not objecting it.I have no where to be in the morning.”

“Not like that!” Vanessa whacked Charity’s arm playfully. “We can spend the night together without sex, you know? Just enjoy each other’s company. Maybe talk some more.”

“Again, we have all night,” Charity took hold of Vanessa’s hands and moved her so she was laying on top of the blonde. “I can give you all three.” 

“Don’t worry,” Vanessa smiled into the first kiss Charity gave her the night. “My alarm is already set for half-six.”

She referred to the tot upstairs. 

“Of course it fucking is.”

That is what made Vanessa addicted to Charity, how easy she made her laugh. 


End file.
